Colorado
Tired of crowded campgrounds? Colorado company taps businesses to host RV travelers overnight
Ann Danielson is expecting a steady stream of visitors this summer to her alpaca ranch southeast of Longmont. The ranch is one of roughly 120 small businesses in Colorado that open up their property overnight to people camping in recreational vehicles in exchange for a little patronage.
This will be the third summer that Danielson, co-owner of Annie’s Alpaca Ranch, has participated in the program by Harvest Hosts, a Colorado-based company that coordinates with businesses across the country, listing more than 5,000 sites as potential stopovers. Campers pay Harvest Hosts an annual membership fee and agree to buy something or contribute in some way to the wineries, breweries, farms, roadside attractions and other locations that provide space for travelers.
Danielson sells products made with alpaca fiber in a small store next to her house at the ranch.
“My first year, I didn’t have that many people. Last year, I had a lot and it’s starting to be a lot again this year,” Danielson said. “If i wanted, I could probably have somebody almost every day.”
Danielson uses an app to let people know when she’s willing to host campers and to keep in touch with guests about their arrival time, the kind of vehicle they’re driving and information about themselves.
Harvest Hosts has grown as more people are hitting the road. Travel by RV boomed in popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic when many avoided air travel and staying in hotels. More than 11 million households own RVs, up 62% from 2001, according to the RV Industry Association’s website.
Post-pandemic, higher interest rates have been a speed bump for the industry, with sales falling significantly since 2021, but remaining above pre-pandemic levels, Reuters reported. The RV Industry Association said the median age of a first-time buyer dropped to 32 in 2022, down from 41 in 2020.
Harvest Hosts owner Joel Holland is part of the younger demographic that discovered the RV life. Now 39, he and his wife left the Washington, D.C., area when he was 30 and toured the country by motor home for two years.
“I had built a video tech company and was completely burned out. I was sick and tired of cubicles, concrete jungles and driving to work in traffic,” Holland said. “My wife and I didn’t have kids yet. We impulsively purchased an RV and just hit the road. The idea was, ‘Let’s just do the great American road trip until we get sick of it.’”
The couple loved the “proverbial wind in your hair, freedom of the open road,” but didn’t always enjoy the campgrounds. “You’re parked 5 feet away from another RV. The campgrounds are nothing special,” Holland said.
Other campers told Holland about Harvest Hosts, then a mom-and-pop business in Arizona. After settling in Vail, Holland offered to buy the company. He invested heavily in technology to grow the network of sites from around 600 to a few thousand. The majority of his 20 employees are in Colorado.
Annual memberships for campers range from about $84 to $143. The higher level comes with access to more sites. Hosts don’t pay anything. The company said it does background checks on the hosts.
Campers aren’t charged fees, but they’re encouraged to patronize hosts’ stores, restaurants or wineries. Holland said businesses report averaging $13,000 in additional yearly revenue from the overnight guests.
Treat it like your grandmother’s property
One of Harvest Hosts’ code of conduct is to treat the sites “like it’s your grandmother’s property,” Holland said.
“And No. 2 is support the business you visit,” Holland said. “These locations are letting you stay for free. Otherwise you’d be paying quite a lot of money.”
Harvest Hosts checks with businesses to track how things are going. The experience for Valley View Christian Church in Douglas County has been positive, lead pastor Phillip Holland said.
“Harvest Hosts reached out to us a few years ago looking for a location. It looked like something that could be a benefit to our community and to those that are traveling,” Holland said. “It’s not easy to reserve locations to place your camper and RV and it’s incredibly expensive.”
People staying on the property, which is south of Highlands Ranch, often make donations to the church. If they’re around on a Sunday morning, they usually attend the service.
“We are very blessed with the property and the facility that we have available to us,” Holland said. “Monetarily it’s not moving the needle for us, but it does increase awareness of our ministry and to me that’s a great thing.”
Campers must have self-contained vehicles. The hosts don’t provide hook-ups or other services. The stays are intended to be just overnight.
A blog posted by Cruise America, which rents and sells RVs, said a Harvest Hosts membership can quickly pay for itself, considering that campgrounds typically charge $30 and more per night. There are a variety of sites “away from the hustle and bustle of traditional campgrounds.”
However, the blog advises that campers can’t show up at a Harvest Hosts location unannounced. And the campsite surfaces might vary: from concrete to asphalt to gravel, dirt or grass.
The site at Annie’s Alpaca Ranch is a mix of gravel and grass near Danielson’s house and the animals’ pens. She lets people know that her driveway can’t handle some of the bigger rigs.
Many of Danielson’s guests like to mingle with the alpacas. Some will feed the animals grain pellets she puts out. The alpacas know that vans or RVs pulling up mean that treats are in store.
Danielson grew up on a cattle farm north of Ames, Iowa. She moved to the Denver area to work for an accounting firm, which closed in 2000. After visiting an alpaca farm and learning more about them, Danielson said she was “taken by the animals.”
Danielson bought her first alpaca, which is smaller than a llama, in the summer of 2004 and bought the property near Longmont in December of that year. The herd has grown to 21 alpacas and two llamas, which ward off predators. She sells some of the fiber to a small mill in Utah and individuals and takes some of the animals to shows while still doing accounting work.
Based on her experience, Danielson said she would recommend the hosting gig to people who likes socializing. “I enjoy talking to people and knowing the story of where they’ve been, where they’re going.”
Get more business news by signing up for our Economy Now newsletter.
The group behind an upcoming rebate program is hoping to get more Coloradans to make the switch to heat pumps for their heating and cooling needs.
Power Ahead Colorado, administered by the Denver Regional Council of Governments, says applications for the new rebates will open this summer. However, people are already taking advantage of incentives.
“I am so ready for the summer,” said Denver homeowner Eric Gehringer, who came home from work as his heat pump was being installed, and he’s pretty excited about it.
“We’re going to be in the house, just chillin’, like, ‘Oh man, is it warm outside? I don’t even know,’” he joked.
Gehringer is upgrading from a swamp cooler and chose a heat pump over a traditional heating and cooling system.
“With the rebates that are happening right now, it just made financial sense as well,” he said.
Several rebates can be stacked for maximum savings, including a state rebate from Xcel Energy.
“The average size of those rebates has been anywhere from $6,000 to $12,000, depending on the size of the heat pump,” said Trevor Seeyle, the president and CEO of Independent Power, a Boulder-based company that installs heat pumps.
Power Ahead Colorado will also be launching a $1,500 rebate program this summer.
“Our typical heat pump installation is probably anywhere from $15,000 to $25,000, and on average, those stacked heat pump rebates are probably about $10,000, and so it’s a significant portion of the installation cost,” Seeyle added.
Heat pumps are also a more energy-efficient option than traditional heating and cooling, and more Coloradans are making the switch.
Independent Power says they install around seven to eight per week.
Heat pumps work by pulling heat from the outside air when it’s cold, and cold from the air when it’s hot outside. The unit then disperses it within the home.
And although heat pump technology has improved to handle sub-zero temperatures in the colder months, there’s also an option to install a furnace along with it.
“That’s the backup that will typically only be running when it’s very, very cold outside,” Seeyle explained.
Heat pumps could be the long-term future of heating and cooling, with people like Gehringer eager to go all in.
“And seeing that the swamp cooler is gone is fabulous,” Gehringer added.
Colorado
Colorado Supreme Court orders children’s hospital to resume gender-affirming care for minors
DENVER (AP) — The Colorado Supreme Court has ordered Colorado’s largest provider of gender-affirming care for young people to resume medical treatments like puberty blockers and hormone therapy despite threats that providing the care could lead to losing federal funding.
Children’s Hospital Colorado suspended medical treatments for transgender patients under 18 in January after it said the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services opened an investigation into its treatments following a series of clashes between President Donald Trump’s administration and advocates over transgender health care for children.
WATCH: Trump administration seeks to cut off access to transgender health care for U.S. children
The hospital said in a statement that it is reviewing Monday’s court ruling and considering its next steps. It previously said it would continue to provide mental health treatment for minors and also medical treatment for patients aged 18 to 21.
Four transgender girls, ranging from age 10 to 17, sued the hospital, through their parents, alleging that the hospital was violating the state’s antidiscrimination law by refusing to provide them treatment both because of their gender identity and their disability, gender dysphoria. Gender dysphoria is the distress caused when someone’s gender expression doesn’t match their sex assigned at birth.
The girls said they feared not being able to get medication and monitoring to prevent them from undergoing puberty and developing male traits. And they cited mental health fallout, including depression and suicidal ideation.
The court sided with the girls in a 5-2 ruling, finding that the decision to shutter the services for minors violated a state antidiscrimination law. In the majority opinion, Justice William Wood III said, “We conclude that the actual immediate and irreparable harm to petitioners outweighs the speculative harm CHC may face if the federal government further acts against it.”
In a dissent, Justice Brian Boatright said the hospital didn’t make its decision to stop the case because of the gender identity of the patients. Rather, he wrote, “It was a decision driven by the direct threat to the viability of the entire hospital.”
A Kansas judge also sided with transgender minors in a ruling last week.
The Colorado hospital’s TRUE Center, which focuses on gender-affirming care, is one of the largest programs in the country and the only comprehensive care center in the Rocky Mountain region, according to the lawsuit.
Children’s Hospital Colorado said the HHS opened the investigation of the hospital after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued a declaration that called treatments like puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries unsafe and ineffective for children and adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria, or the distress when someone’s gender expression doesn’t match their sex assigned at birth.
An Oregon-based federal judge ruled in March for Colorado and 20 other states that Kennedy’s declaration went too far.
Mulvihill reported from Haddonfield, New Jersey.
A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy.
Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue.
2026 Colorado Activities Association Boys 4A State Swimming and Diving Championships
- May 8-9, 2026
- Thornton, CO
- SCY (25 yards)
- Results
A year after winning its first- ever state title, Monarch High School stayed on top at the Colorado Activities Association Boys 4A State Swimming and Diving Championships.
Monarch successfully defended its title, earning 355.5 points to outlast runner-up JK Mullen, which came in with 344 points. Glenwood Springs was third at 340.5.
“It was nerve-wracking,” senior Tobin Howe said to the CHSAA site. “We were about halfway through the meet and going into finals we knew if we kept our seed places, we had enough points to win. Mullen was doing really well and I was a bit nervous. I was thinking it might come down to the last event. It almost did, but we pulled through.”
Howe, a Washington University commit, was the leading point-getter for Monarch, claiming individual titles in the 200 IM (personal best 1:51.67) and the 100 breast (55.32).
The other individual standout was Cheyenne Mountain senior Barrett Kerrigan, an Air Force commit. Kerrigan won the 200 free in a personal best time of 1:40.46 and repeated as champion in the 500 free with a time of 4:36.79.
Glenwood Springs won two of the three relays, first claiming the 200 medley in a time of 1:31.78 behind the team of Breck Boyd (22.47), Brian Molloy (25.74), Andrew Molloy (22.79) and Tyson Boyd (20.78).
In the 200 free relay, the Glenwood Springs team of B. Boyd (20.64), Molloy (20.94), Tennyson Sipes (21.96) and T. Boyd (20.64) won in a time of 1:24.18.
The 400 free relay was captured by JK Mullen in 3:07.12 behind the team of Oscar Valdez (47.25), Asher Howe (46.58), Sam Lombardo (48.93) and Thomas Bradac (44.36).
Other individual winners were:
- Bradac, a TCU commit and senior at JK Mullen, won the 50 free in 20.21.
- Evergreen senior Henry Palmquist won the 1-meter diving event with 621.15 points.
- Monarch junior Isaac Skillern captured the 100 fly in a time of 50.11.
- Mountain View senior JJ Phillips, a George Washington commit, won the 100 free in a personal best time of 44.42.
- Breck Boyd, a UC-Santa Barbara commit, won the 100 back in a time of 49.92 after taking 2nd in the event last year.
Team Standings — Top 5
- Monarch, 355.5
- JK Mullen 344
- Glenwood Springs, 340.5
- Littleton, 221.5
- Mountain View, 216
-
Detroit, MI21 minutes agoFormer Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan drops out of Michigan governor race
-
San Francisco, CA33 minutes agoSan Francisco Sheriff discusses security at houses of worship, pickpocket arrests
-
Dallas, TX39 minutes ago3 Dallas Cowboys UDFAs Who Could Steal a Spot on 53-Man Roster
-
Miami, FL45 minutes agoMan accused of following woman in his Tesla, exposing himself to her in South Miami
-
Boston, MA51 minutes agoWhat’s happening in and around Boston during the World Cup
-
Denver, CO57 minutes agoDenver weather: More sunshine, high plains storms
-
Seattle, WA1 hour agoThe Status of Fare Evasion in Washington State
-
San Diego, CA1 hour agoJewish American Heritage Month: San Diego’s Jewish community reflects city’s diversity in culture and faith
